Georges Florovsky
Leontius’ Dispute with the Aphthartodocetists
In his dispute with the Aphthartodocetists Leontius meticulously discloses the doctrine on the humanity of the Logos. The Aphthartodocetists, one of the divisions of the Monophysites, were founded by Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus, and hence were also called " Julianists.” They taught that from the first moment of the Incarnation the earthly body of Christ was in its nature incorruptible — άφθαρτος impassible, and immortal, although this did not stop Julian from accepting suffering and death as a free act of the will. Leontius proceeds from soteriological premises. In opposition to Julian of Halicarnassus, Leontius thinks that the primordial Adam was created in a form capable of "decay" — that is, mortal — that the flesh was "mortal." Immortality was available only through participation in the "Tree of Life" — that is, for Leontius it was a dynamic task, an opportunity, not a "natural" condition. This means that in the Fall human flesh did not become mortal for the first time but started to die — the possibility of "decay" appeared. Consequently, from the fact that Christ has the nature of the primordial Adam, it does not follow that his flesh is "incapable of decay" from the very Incarnation. For all of its chastity and purity, die possibility of death or "decay" remains and is removed only through actual death, in the resurrection. By nature — κατά φύσίν — Christ’s flesh is open to suffering and is not withdrawn from "irreproachable passions" or "suffering" states — and not through a special calamity or weakness of the Logos, as Julian thought, but precisely by nature (although there are no actual bases for death in it).
The hypostatic union does not demand changes in the natural properties of manhood and does not damage the flesh’s ability to suffer. True, by virtue of the hypostatic union, the measure of nature is exceeded — υπέρ φύσιν — but the laws of nature are not annulled, not παρά φύσίν. For the Savior, imperishability is higher than nature. Before the resurrection the measure of nature is only sometimes exceeded. It is the miracles which are the exception in the Gospel story of the Logos Incarnate, and not the weakness, as Julian depicted it. For Julian, salvation has already been completed somehow in the Incarnation, while the Gospel life was presented as some series of acts which went beyond what was necessary. For Leontius, on the contrary, the Incarnation is only the beginning, and he sees in the Savior’s whole life an inner unity and growth. Leontius reminds us that "imperishability" is not some exclusive gift, for it is promised to all. Innate imperishability of the flesh, on the contrary, would not increase the Savior’s glory. The Savior’s whole life would be incomprehensible in that case. Why did he suffer and die on the Cross, if apotheosis and deification of human nature was already completed in the Incarnation? If the Savior’s human nature has actual "impassivity and "imperishability" by virtue of the hypostatic union, then ould not its fullness be lessened with every calamity of suffering W d debilitation? The whole meaning of Leontius’ observations is fΠ emphasize the perfect reality of the Savior’s corporeal life, °hich was fulfilled through volitional death in the resurrection, when for the first time the Savior’s body is actually invested with imperishability.
Leontius makes a sharp distinction between deification of the soul and of the body. The human in Christ is free of sin and therefore from the beginning the Savior’s soul is privy to all the blessings of the Logos, to bliss and omniscience. Leontius insists on this against Theodore of Mopsuestia and his doctrine of the process of Christ’s moral perfection and his original ignorance. This original deification of the soul is connected with its purity and innocence. But from this it is impossible to come to a conclusion about the imperishability of the flesh. Chastity does not exclude growth, and the Savior was born as a child. Death triumphs actually only through a death which is volitional (for it is "for our sake"), but natural. The resurrection actualizes imperishability for the first time; it is the resurrection which becomes the source of life and imperishability for the whole human race, as something "consubstantial" with Christ in human nature, by virtue of a certain mysterious "servility" or "homeopathy."
This imperishability and impassivity will be revealed in the last days. Sinners will fall under new sufferings. However, these future sufferings differ substantially from those of today, which are connected with the natural capacity for suffering of mortal flesh. Thus, in his objections to Julian, Leontius successfully argues against the latter’s anthropological premises and his doctrine about primordial nature and original sin.
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